Genius MetalStrike Pro review

A cooling fan in a joystick? Yes, please

Jump to Section:

Our Verdict

A solid but not amazing joystick for those who like to play flight sims for long periods of time or those who suffer from sweaty palms

For

Good button config

Good cooling fan

Against

Fan is quite noisy

Joystick is a bit lightweight

Having toyed with the Grandias joypad I was expecting very little joy from Genius' latest force feedback joystick. But it's not bad. Unfortunately, that's about as high as I can go with the praise for this feat of engineering.

The build quality isn't the highest, as I've come to expect this month from Genius products, but what it does, it does adequately. Even though, it feels entirely too lightweight and plastic, it comes with a few neat additions which I didn't necessarily expect.

The shaft-fan is incredibly loud, but for the long ﬂying sesh is pretty useful for keeping the palm fairly sweat-free. It's also got adjustable positioning for the top thumb buttons and hat-switch, as well as the now-ubiquitous throttle axis. However, the force feedback doesn't really stand up in-game, as the joystick is very lightweight and doesn't really add to the sensation of ﬂight.

At £30 it's by no means the most expensive, but it's not the cheapest either. You can pick up just as functional controllers for half the price, but without the force feedback. Personally I prefer the fully adjustable Saitek Cyborg Evo, which is the same price and wireless to boot.